Show us your vintage B&W sets!

[Chad Hauris]

It probably just uses a single 6AQ5 or 6CU5 but those old GE's have the best sound of any tube set I've seen.

[bgadow]

Slowly I'll get some pictures up of some of my sets; many are crowded together too much right now. This one is a Philco console from 1954 that I rescued from an estate a few years ago. I wish I could have saved all the sets they had but it was hard to justify storing all the late 50s/early 60s bw consoles. This one was too good to let die, I felt. My first test gave me a quick burst of light on the screen & then nothing. After a few years I dug into it, recapped it & swapped the seleniums for new diodes. This brought the set to life but with no vertical deflection. This was traced to a bad transformer. I tried a NOS one from my pile but it wasn't close enough-I couldn't get full height without srewing up the vert lin. Finally broke down & ordered the correct part from Moyer & this corrected the problems. The set was asleep for a long, long time (I estimate 30+ years). I'm not totally happy with the level of contrast in the picture but it is much better than at first. Swapping some tubes and just running it some have made a difference. Note that this is a split chassis set, I have the model number written down somewhere. It took some searching as the guy I bought it from threw away the back cover! (a story for another day) I also have an RCA which looks very similiar to this that I plan on displaying next to it.

[bgadow]

Note that this set has a built in UHF tuner; I kinda think this was dealer installed since a couple details don't look factory, but it is the genuine Philco part, and works.

I am practicing my photography but could not get a good picture of both tv and screen this time so here is another shot.

Where do you guys come up with these gems? Other than E-Bay, I wouldn't know where to look. And the E-Bay ones in a lot of cases look like real junkers that would be well beyond my level of expertise in getting going again.

[Chad Hauris]

I have had success with electronic recycling collection days, trash pick-up days, estate sales and garage sales, a few from auctions.

[Dave A]

The local Philadelphia Inquirer newspaper found me and my collection a few years ago and did an article...and was kindly vague about where I live. I had just over 100 phone calls and letters telling me that the person on the end of the line had the first television ever made. I did look at most of them and took home about 10 of them. Not a TRK in the bunch but did get my Philco 123 from that article. The last call came 6 years after the article from a woman who saved it for the time when her mom would be parting with it.

[andy]

...

[bgadow]

You can post an ad in the classifieds which will definately get you calls-and LOTS of wild goose chases! But some of it will pan out. Trash pick up doesn't work where I live since we mostly have small towns that either don't pick up at all or only pick up canned garbage. My town will take stuff like this but you have to go to the town office, pay $10, haul it to the curb with a special tag on it...easier for most people to take it to the county collection site, which is free but only open once or twice a week. I have found a few good sets there, but not recently. Some of these sets would be giveaways at auctions. Often they won't even let you unload them off the truck at the local auction barn. At an on-site auction they might not even bother trying to sell the sets, you may have to ask. Most of my sets in recent years have come from a lady who "bottom feeds" at a couple weekly auctions. She buys whatever goes cheap, then puts in in antique malls or her own junk shop. She knows I'll be around and will buy stuff from her so she picks up the bargain radios/tv's. Really, just keep your eyes open & keep looking. I have found bargains on equipment (and I havn' t spent over $125 for any radio or tv, new or used, ever!) in antique malls, yard sales, flea markets, classifieds, used furniture stores...this stuff doesn't show up like it used to but it is still out there. As I think was mentioned, since there is no longer any demand for such sets (even sets from the 80s or 90s) most folks that used to sell them no longer bother.

[Chad Hauris]

I also can testify that good media publicity about your collection works! I got on the 6 0 clock news recently for collecting old TV's from the recycling days. Just got a call at the radio station from someone who wants to give me another set. Also had a newspaper feature article about me and got responses to that too. Being in the radio business myself I am always on the lookout for interesting people to interview as on-air guests, so if you can make some connections in TV/Radio/Newspapers you may be able to get publicity about a hobby that not too many people engage in.

I have been also salvaging TV's from the trash for the past 10 years and have noticed the age of the sets in the solid waste stream keeps getting newer. Tube sets in the trash are getting rarer and rarer...so it is probably good to get them now, while they are still around.

[bgadow]

Here is my Transvision kit tv. The only time I have made it to MAARC's Radioactivity was a few years ago, there were 2 tv sets in the auction. (the other was a Zenith porthole table model) I thought sure this would go high (at least over $100) but I was the only bidder & took it home for the reserve price of $35. It had been gone through by the seller, recapped, etc, and works fine. I have done nothing to it. Some interesting points: its sure not UL approved! Besides the fact that you can stick your little finger in the side vent holes, there never was a back, the chassis is just sitting there (never screwed down, I don't think) and no safety glass over the screen! The tv uses the DuMont style continous tuner with FM & aircraft bands in the middle. Also has a tuning eye-the schematic calls for the standard type of eye (I think 6E5) but this one uses a different type with 2 squares. (I should pull it & get the type) Not as neat looking but it works. The speaker is in the small grille to the right of the screen-its all ready for a big speaker down bottom but none was installed. The set came with all the original instructions & even the address label off the packing crate. It was built in Washington, DC-I think Star Radio is on the paper. It dates from '48 if I recall. This picture shows the local station off of a loop antenna hooked to a Mallory UHF convertor. I bought it the same day as the tv, as it happens, because my wife liked it so much. She was dissapointed-thought it was a radio! I knew better but didn't bother telling her.

[bgadow]

Here is a shot from the rear. A fairly large chassis, which I guess made it easier to build for the beginner.

[Jeffhs]

Bryan,

I seem to remember in your reply to one of my posts that you said you are quite a distance from TV stations in either Washington, D. C. or Baltimore. What stations are you getting in Federalsburg with just a loop antenna on a UHF converter? You did say you are only about five minutes or so from the Delaware line, but I don't think there are any UHF stations there. The only thing I can figure is you must be picking up a Philadelphia station, which would make sense since Philly is only a few miles from Wilmington--unless there are new UHF stations in the area.

[jshorva65]

The tuning indicator tube with the double-rectangle target is type 6AL7 and was designed to work with both AM and FM detectors. If memory serves, there are 3 beam-control electrodes which enabled the tube to be used for monitoring the output of a discriminator for proper balance. I have several of these tubes on the way, NOS from a bulk buy.

[bgadow]

Jeff,
The local stations are WBOC-16 & WMDT-47 out of Salisbury, MD, which is a 45 minute drive from my house. But I believe both of their transmitters are near Sharptown, MD which is maybe 20 minutes and less as the crow flies. There is also a PBS station on 28 out of Salisbury. Both stations also broadcast from Dover,DE-47 has a translator on 27 while 16 is on, well, 16. (I'm a little farther from Dover than Salisbury)

[Rob]

Bgadow,

Wow, what a great collectible set! I have a rare Sightmaster that employed the same chassis. Look familiar?!